The Four Loves

In this remarkable recording, C.S. Lewis shows why millions of readers have acclaimed him the greatest spokesman for Christianity in the twentieth century. In a resonant, baritone voice, Lewis explores the nature of the four Greek words that are translated love in English: "storge" (affection), "philia" (friendship), "eros" (sexual or romantic love) and "agape" (selfless love).

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Publisher's Summary

In this remarkable recording, C.S. Lewis shows why millions of readers have acclaimed him the greatest spokesman for Christianity in the twentieth century. In a resonant, baritone voice, Lewis explores the nature of the four Greek words that are translated love in English: "storge" (affection), "philia" (friendship), "eros" (sexual or romantic love) and "agape" (selfless love).

But instead of giving us a dry, theological treatise, Lewis makes the subject extremely personal and practical by showing us how easily natural loves can go wrong and pollute our relationships. He shows that what we often tend to excuse as natural behavior is really selfish and destructive.

Lewis exposes these pitfalls in our loves in order to lead us to the solution, Godlike agape love that God has for men and women and the kind we must develop and nurture in our relationships.

As in his writing, Lewis doesn�t merely tell, he shows these loves in action with vivid and often humorous illustrations. The images are so realistically drawn and so alive you are sure to recognize someone you know or live with, or maybe even yourself.

It is a great treat to hear Lewis' voice. But be aware that this is not the exact same material as his book that bears the same title. Rather it is from a series of radio broadcasts prior to the publication of the book.
The material is still very insightful, even though the book itself contain additional material.

CS Lewis is such a profound thinker, and his insight into the types of love and how they grow or fail is so perceptive. While the reading isn't up-tempo or fast paced, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Lewis himself reading this. It was more like having your grandfather give you really great insight into a matter than hearing a motivational speaker talk about it, and this seemed to make it more tangible.

C. S. Lewis is my favorite author, but I was almost horror-stricken the first time I heard his voice. He sounded to me like he was looking down his nose, and unfriendly. But I kept listening, mostly out of sheer novelty. And now, all sorts of qualties, tones, colors, nuances, and inflections have settled in and I find that not only do I enjoy his voice, but I almost can't understand how I had such an aversion to it. I think there's just been a lot lost in the lecture manner of 1950's Oxford/Cambridge, until what was excellent, clear, and forceful once comes off as cold and affected now. But in his day, nobody packed the house for lectures like Lewis. And it wasn't just his ideas, but his voice they loved. There are many accounts of this. So, if you are turned off at first, keep going and see if you don't end up loving it.I know, by the way, that this wasn't just a matter of "getting used to it" or forcing myself to like it because I like Lewis. Because I tried to apply the same acclimation to a particularly obnoxious narrator who happened to perform my favorite novel of all time. But try as I might, I couldn't take the guy.Lastly, if you find the commentary (I believe it's Dobson, but I could be wrong) before each of the loves to be jarring - as I did - you can order a CD version of these recordings plus two other CD's of Lewis reading a paper on The Pilgrim's Progress and a longish paper he wrote when he took his position at Cambridge, all for 20 bucks from the folks at Episcopal Media Center. They call the collection "C S Lewis Speaks His Mind." In addition to the extra material, the Four Loves recordings are presented without commentary. (I hope Audible doesn't mind my plugging their version here, but Audible doesn't have those other recordings available.) Just google "C S Lewis Speaks His Mind" and it'll pop right up.

Excellent and in depth talks on the 4 types of love - affection (storge),friendship (philia), erotic love (eros), and the love of God (agape). Very practical and easy to understand. This is not a reading from the book "The Four Loves". Instead it is material that Lewis read directly from his transcrpts and was recorded in 1958 and broadcast over the radio. The material was included 2 years later in his book "The Four Loves". This is the only professional recording of CS Lewis' voice available today.

Where does The Four Loves rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is C.S. Lewis himself and I had never heard him, so felt blessed to have the opportunity to hear his work as expressed by him. I enjoyed the book but didn't get it all with one listen and will definitely be listening to it again and possibly more than once more. It is a great topic - LOVE - and he definitely has a well thought out idea of the various aspects of love. Although I need to hear it more often to get it all, I enjoyed the first listen enough to encourage me to listen again and again. Inspiring and thought provoking.

CS Lewis' book The Four Loves was a fantastic find at audible.com. I've spent the last few months reading/listening to CS Lewis' major works but to be able to hear the authors own voice speak so eloquently on love was truly an unforgettable #audible book experience. I have heard pastors before speak on the different types of love before but as always CS Lewis does it best.

I love and admire CS Lewis and have pretty much read his entire body of work. The four Loves is by far his weakest work. The section on "Philia" is particularly lame. A lot of free floating notions built on nothing more than his own experience.

This series of four readings, which I think were originally broadcast on the radio, give Lewis' thoughts on the four types of love. His analysis is incisive and intelligent, but at the same time witty and not at all dry. I have certainly learned a lot from this recording, and you'll probably find you need to listen to it more than once to get the gain of it. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Ashling

Harrogate, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

5/22/08

Overall

"Ashling"

It is so wonderful to hear C.S Lewis read his own piece. Only he can read it the way he truly intended it and i wish there were more recordings of his voice. This is great to listen to, i've enjoyed it so much i've listened to it quite a number of times now. Only Lewis can accomplish this brilliant mix of profound wit and wisdom, which brings so much insight into our relationships and our relationship with God...of course, i'm convinced to God's delight, without taking ourselves so seriously.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Karen

Cardross, Argyll & Bute, United Kingdom

4/20/06

Overall

"Excellent"

Plain, understandable and erudite. A thoroughly enjoyable book

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Jessica

1/24/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Classic, appealing Lewis"

What made the experience of listening to The Four Loves the most enjoyable?

It was wonderful to hear the voice of C.S. Lewis reading his own book - I've never heard a recording of him before.

What did you like best about this story?

The Four Loves is an interesting little book. I'm not sure I agree with all that Lewis says in it, and I think I'll need to listen to it again before I understand some things, but everything is clear, well-defended and sensible in classic Lewis style. It isn't a difficult book in the sense that it can only be understood by the very intelligent or the philosophically-minded (neither of which descriptions ought to be applied to me), but it still managed to give me a feeling of having listened to something important.

What does C.S. Lewis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

His voice! Some of the points he makes in The Four Loves are very simple and everyday, but some take more thought to get your head around. Listening to what he places most emphasis on helps to highlight the important bits in places where fools like me blink in confusion!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No - the book itself is very conveniently divided up into four distinct chapters (the Audible version pairs these up to have two chapters). I stopped after each one to let what had been said sink in a bit.

Any additional comments?

I could have done without the inane 'commentary' of the guy who popped up a few times to say 'Hey! Here's another chapter! C.S.Lewis is totally awesome'. It was unnecessary and added nothing whatsoever to The Four Loves. On the other hand, there was so little of it that it really didn't impact on the book itself at all.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Jack

12/30/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"must read by all people who want to love"

learn to love what you really mean to love and let people love you the way you want to be loved.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Nigel

Chard, United Kingdom

4/11/12

Overall

"The Master's servant's voice"

C S Lewis is one of the most-quoted Christian apologeticists of the modern era, and I've heard him cited by adherents of a wide range of denominations. His reasoning is solid and his arguments lucid. So it's a real treat to hear him deliver one of his most influential texts in his own voice. Some of the comments in the section on 'eros' may feel a little dated now, and perhaps reflect the era and his own seclusion in the bastion of male academia of the time, but overall the insights in this short narrative remain incisive and helpful on every topic.
I have fair regard for Chuck Colson as an author, too, but would have preferred his interpolations in this recording edited out. He's really acting as cheerleader and doesn't add much insight - but each of his commentaries is short, so all is not lost.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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